Okay. So you've set up your PPC campaign, written what you think are provocative and powerful ads and your click through rate is steadily increasing, but your sales figures are zip, nada, zero. What's going wrong? Aren't PPC ads the way to draw lots of eager buyers to your website?

Perhaps its the website that's the problem, or more importantly, the landing page on the website.

If you have a fabulous website that is not drawing traffic, you don't have a business. Conversely, if you have loads of traffic and a lousy website, you also don't have a business - you have a money pit.

Important Note: A PPC campaign which brings you truckloads of traffic is only valuable if you can convert that traffic into sales.

How many times have you searched for a product, let's say "cheap cell phones" and you find a PPC ad that looks promising. You click on the link, only to be taken to the home page, which talks about all sorts of gobbledygook, is sprinkled with flashy affiliate links and Google AdSense ads, but makes no mention of cheap cell phones? You immediately click off the web page and the bloke who put the PPC ad up just lost himself another $0.55c (or whatever he or she paid for the click) and a potential paying customer.

When you create a pay per click campaign, you can send your customer exactly where you want them to go, and that's exactly what you should be doing.

In this case, your landing page should be focused on "cheap cell phones" and ONLY on "cheap cell phones".

If your ultimate aim is to direct your customer to a top-of-the-range cell phone, create a separate ad campaign with appropriate keywords and a specific landing page for that campaign. Sure, sprinkle in a few "teasers" about your top-of-the range-model and its incredible functionality on your cheap cell phones page, but don't dupe the customer!
 
If your PPC ad is about "cheap cell phones", your landing page should also be about "cheap cell phones". If your customer can find what they're looking for on your landing page, they'll stick around.

Next Important Point: Don't make your customer jump through hoops to find the information or product they are looking for.

The page your visitor lands on must be a logical and sensible continuation of what you are offering in your PPC ad. 

If you have a product to sell, a free report to give away or a video tutorial you're offering, it should be front and center on your landing page. If it's an opt-in list you want, sure, ask for a name and email address, but don't make it any more difficult than that. Deliver the product immediately you've got what you want - it's a win/win situation for both of you. Your visitor gets his or her product, video or report and you get their email address.

You then have the opportunity to gradually coax them into purchasing your product or service with a series of friendly, supportive, sales-oriented emails that draw them gradually towards your ultimate goal - the sale.

Final Important Point: Pay per click ad campaigns can bring you lots of valuable, targeted traffic, but it's only valuable if you can convert that traffic to sales or leads.

And the key to converting leads to sales is all in the page you send your visitor to. Make it worth their while to have your visitor hang around.

You will find heaps more information about how to create the perfect landing page for Google AdWords PPC campaigns in Perry Marshall's "The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords."